Released 19 May 2009, Mud Valley's definitive and revolutionary business & brand marketing strategy e-book 'Marketers from Space'.

'Marketers from Space' comes complete with our auto-refill top-up feature which means that you get regular updates of the e-book for at least two years after purchase.

It also contains a revolutionary pricing approach. While it starts out at £9.99 (approx. $US15.00) on 19 May 2009, its price increases by £0.01 for every copy sold!

So find out more about Mud Valley's 'Marketers from Space' by clicking - here.

"I am delighted to be Muddy," Ned Matalia, President & CEO, Matalia Group.

"Thank you very much for the treasure you sent to me - they are not Excel docs, they are Excellent docs. When I was exploring the documents I just felt like I am a little kid in a candy store," Abdul Rahman Magdy, CCO & Creative Director, Amber Advertising.

"The booklet is great. Absolutely fantastic. Pardon me for getting too enthusiastic...", Raghunath, founder of BrandEdge.

We support your success!

Our latest support pack to be released is our "TOP Brand Definition" - a toolkit designed to help you through the complex process of defining your brand prior to briefing a creative agency and putting together a communications plan.

We will support you on the use of our tools on a one-to-one basis or in small groups, and you'll get your money back the first time you use them.

Click here for more details, or contact us on +44 208 123 1438 - Skype: mudvalley (Belgium) - or e-mail us at enquiries@mudvalley.co.uk to start a discussion as to how our training can help you.

Strategy - hired guns or DIY?

In a world in which you will certainly have ten competitors trying to put you out of business, if not hundreds, thousands, or even millions, having an effective strategy designed to make sure that you out-perform everyone else is increasingly critical.

If any of those competitors have a significantly better strategy than you have, growth is going to be tough, and even standing still may be hard.

The big question is whether you should call in the hired guns to develop a strategy on your behalf, or whether you build on the skills, knowledge and realism of your own people to develop one yourself, albeit with some expert support.

We suggest that the answer depends on why you want a strategy in the first place:

1. just to have one - someone, someday will ask to see it, or:
2. in response to a specific request from higher management, or:
3. to fashion a competitive advantage and optimise performance

Many strategies, whether at the business or brand marketing level, are a PowerPoint presentation, developed by a team over a couple of days, that sits on your PC somewhere. Everyone has forgotten what was agreed, and the world has moved on anyway. No-one needs to pay McKinsey $400,000 to develop one of those.

If, on the other hand, you are required to develop a credible strategy by your higher management, you may well be prepared to shell out some protection money. The principle objective here is not to go all out for growth, but to save face. A report adorned by a Big 4 logo should keep the vampires away, and if things go wrong, no-one can blame you - you called in the best (or, at least, most expensive).

However, if you are one of those managers who really want serious growth, and are determined to develop a strategy to deliver it, we suggest that you are better off going the DIY route.

Why? Because successful strategies require, above all, the buy-in of those who are tasked with implementing them.

Quality consultancies will undoubtedly develop quality strategies, however they are like transplanted organs, they require huge quantities of drugs to prevent them from being rejected. Organisations are organisms - they hate solutions imposed from outside.

Your people already have great ideas about how they can get growth. Many will have at least the basis of skills to forge these into a set of strategies which are aligned with each other, and which point to a viable solution. What they probably need are some processes, tools and techniques to add some rigour to their approach, and to explore solutions they might not otherwise consider. They could probably also benefit from some expert outside help, and they could certainly do with a ruthless and objective "bullet-proofing" process to give everyone the absolute confidence that their strategy will deliver. Under these conditions, there is every chance that your strategy will achieve breakthrough results.

Mud Valley specialises in supplying processes and tools, global experts and leaders in their field (drawn from our extensive strategy and brand marketing community) to help you analyse why your strategy and business is under-performing, and then to ensure that you fix it.

We call this "bullet-proofing", and the team we use to solve your problems we nickname "The Firing Squad".

Not only will we provide you with leading global experts in their field, but we can also identify and recruit strategic contract or consultancy resources to ensure the immaculate implementation of your plan.

Not only that, but we have encapsulated our combined knowledge in an extensive strategic toolset that you will learn to use and apply under our guidance, and which you are then free to keep for whenever the need arises.

We also provide an exceptional environment for developing the plan, and the plan-for-the-plan, which is maximally conducive to intense reflection, inspired direction, and meticulous planning for implementation.

You really do not need to rely on the inspiration of the moment

• The Mud Valley™ Stakeholder Strategy Understanding tool is a 5 minute employee interview to gauge the extent to which your critical stakeholders understand and are committed to the strategy you are already implementing.

• The Stakeholder Strategy Feedback tool gains immediate feedback from your key implementers as to the extent to which they are enthused by your strategy as you develop it, and as to barriers to implementation.
• Mud Valley has a comprehensive set of 51 Strategy Development & Audit tools, to lead your team through the entire strategic planning process from establishing your corporate intent to bullet-proofing the execution of your plan, reviewing the results, and implementing corrective action.
• Mud Valley has a further 27 Brand Marketing tools, capable of taking your team through a rigorous audit to understand your markets, your customers, your own and competitive brands, at both a rational and emotional level, and evaluating the synergies and disconnects within your communications and messaging processes.
• Mud Valley also has a full set of Six Sigma tools to analyse your problems, map solutions, and establish control plans in any and every aspect of your business environment. These tools are at the leading edge of Six Sigma methodology.

Whether you are a marketer or a consultant click here to join the Mud Valley™ strategy & brand marketing community for free!

Mud Valley is dedicated to providing members with free processes, tools and techniques to help you develop and test your corporate, business and brand marketing strategies.

We support your success!

We will support you on the use of our tools on a one-to-one basis or in small groups, and you'll get your money back the first time you use them.

Click here for more details, or contact us on +44 208 123 1438 - Skype: mudvalley (Belgium) - or e-mail us at enquiries@mudvalley.co.uk to start a discussion as to how our training can help you.

Do you really understand brand marketing?

It would certainly help!

Once it was enough to build the best products/services on the market, and to tell everyone about them.

Now everyone has good products/services, and the world has got so noisy that persuading people to listen to you is more and more difficult.

Once it was enough to offer your products/services at very competitive prices.

Today, many products/services are simply given away as loss-leaders, so anything you charge is premium pricing.

Once it was enough to be smart and energetic.

Now the Internet has made the world an open global market, with millions and millions of smart, energetic people, who may be literally hungrier than you are.

So how do the smart, successful people succeed?

By being smart, being energetic, being hungry - but, above all by having the know-how to succeed.

And when they want to remain successful over many years, the indispensable skills they need to learn are in brand marketing.

Brand marketing is about having a fresh, compelling, proposition that makes you stand out a mile from the competition, and that is targeted at specific people who are especially likely to want to buy your products and services, and who will give you the return on investment you need.

This does not happen by accident. It happens by knowing what you need to do, and then having the tools to help you do it.

Luckily, you are just seconds away from some very smart solutions from the Mud Valley™ strategy & brand marketing community - integrating business strategy, brand marketing and Six Sigma to ensure that your business remains razor-sharp!

Whether you are a marketer or a consultant click here to join the Mud Valley™ strategy & brand marketing community for free!

Mud Valley is dedicated to providing members with free processes, tools and techniques to help you develop and test your corporate, business and brand marketing strategies.

We support your success!

We will support you on the use of our tools on a one-to-one basis or in small groups, and you'll get your money back the first time you use them.

Click here for more details, or contact us on +44 208 123 1438 - Skype: mudvalley (Belgium) - or e-mail us at enquiries@mudvalley.co.uk to start a discussion as to how our training can help you.

Mud Valley is the trading name of Supermoth Industries Ltd., a UK-registered private limited company, registration number 04093060.

Registered Office address:

7 Beechlands, Taverham, NORWICH. NR8 6SZ, UNITED KINGDOM.

Our telephone number is +44 208 123 1438 - Skype: mudvalley (Belgium).

Our e-mail address is enquiries@mudvalley.co.uk.